One Yankee's love for history, food & hitting the road.

Edamame Bean Salad

During my time in Edinburgh I learned about many new-to-me foods. The cafe I worked at got in a fair amount of them, like Irn-Bru, florentines, flapjacks, the ploughman’s sandwich, and three bean salad.

It was also where I saw my first carrot and raisin salad, but you will never see me revisiting that particular dish. I truly don’t think anything tastes as bad as raw carrots. Especially when they are shredded and mixed with mayonnaise and raisins.

The three bean salad was one of my favorites. The cafe version was probably just a mixture of black, kidney, and garbanzo (chickpeas) beans tossed in a vinaigrette with diced peppers and red onions, but it was a cold, crunchy companion to my cheese toastie at lunch, and I loved it.

Back home I was disappointed to learn that many varieties of three bean salad for sale include green or wax beans. I am not a fan of those either (I am the world’s worst vegetarian…I know), so when I saw this “Gourmet” recipe for three bean salad featuring edamame (soybeans), I added it to my summer recipe list.

Lovely green edamame.

The other distinguishing ingredient in this recipe is the cumin-infused olive oil. It adds a depth of flavor without being overpowering.

For the other beans I used black beans and a New England staple, Stewart’s from the One-Pie canning company in Maine.

The result was a flavorful and refreshing three bean salad.

So how did it taste?

I have to say, as much as I love sea-salted edamame as a snack, I did not care for its texture in the dish. Edamame cleaves when you bite into it, while the other beans yield with pleasant softness. The edamame texture felt out of place…like water chestnuts.

Water chestnuts trick me every time into thinking they are the world’s worst apple. Surprise surprise, I don’t like them much either.

I would make this salad again, because I loved all of the other ingredients, but I’d probably swap the edamame for garbanzos and add a little sugar for sweetness.

You might like it just the way it is. Try it and see!

Three-Bean Salad with EdamameAdapted from Epicurious, originally from “Gourmet”

I spent a month in Endinburgh one weekend and got to sample the wonder that is Irn-Bru. Kind of a weird mix of carbonated water and the bubble gum flavor that dentists use in tooth paste. It seemed kind of gross, but my host assured me that it was the most popular soda in Scotland. While their soda is terrible, the Crunchie bar and Sherbet Fountains are awesome and the fried Mars bar is fun.